Cruel Summer
by Selene Romanov
Summary: Picks up right where the season 2 finale left off...with all the characters and all the cliffhangers. Plz Read and Review. ABANDONED.
1. Default Chapter

**A/N: Post season 2 finale, starts up where the finale left off.**

* * *

The flames licked at the crisp carpet around his big body, he was slumped back in his leather chair. Comfort and style all in one chair. The window that looked in on the fiery disaster was shattered. Acts of hatred by so many enemies that Dan Scott had accumulated over the past months and years.

The leather clad hand that tipped the lighter, igniting the fire. Looked down derisively, at the bottle of celebratory liquor that had consequently sent to Dan as a means of torture.

For all you've done.

So many interpretations by so many different people. Life was full of surprises, both good and bad. Life was unpredictable, but things had a way of coming back to bite you in the ass. Death had come back to bite Dan in the ass this time, for good.

The lithe figure slipped away from the scene, entering from whence it had come. Leaving the scene as pristine and volatile as before. A man drinking alone, a fire that started, a death that would have some shaking their head, wondering why it had happened, who had done it and others wanting to have been the one to have killed Dan, to have delivered the coup de grace.

But only one person could savor the feeling of complete power that they had finally had the last laugh over the devil. His life slipped away slowly and quickly, like the sands through an hourglass.

* * *

Nathan stood on the doorstep, a moment frozen in time, staring at Haley. "What are you doing here?" disbelief crossed his face, settling in a frozen mask of indifference. 

"I missed you, I had to see you to see if our marriage was really over." Reaching out to him, she touched his face, caressed his jaw.

Nathan removed her hand, "Don't touch me." Moving to close the door on her, "Nathan wait, I have nowhere to go."

"That's your problem." Shutting the door in her face, he locked it.

Deb watched the scene from the second floor window, like an evil stepmother waiting to sweep down if Cinderella didn't get out of the way.

* * *

Peyton sat on the beach, her head buried in her hands, Luke sat down next to her, "I guess it's only you and me this summer." 

Wrapping her arms around him, she breathed in his fresh scent, "thank god, I'm not alone this summer."  
"You're never alone, I'm always here for you." Luke said into her soft curly hair.

His mind drifted back to when he'd told Brooke he loved her.

"Brooke, I love you."

Tears formed in her eyes, the blaring of the taxi horn, startled her, jarring her from her frozen cocoon of emotion. "I have to go, I'm sorry."

Her slender figure walked to the door, fading through it, tears streaking down her porcelain face. The door slammed shut behind her, a gust of wind whirled through her hair.

Slowly, she got into the taxi, seeing Lucas's face peering through the window.

Goodbye.

Coming back to the present, he looked around at the darkening night, the sun fading into the ocean, kissing the sky with pale pinks and eerie blues.

"My mom came back tonight," Peyton whispered to him.

"What?" Lucas startled out of his reverie of Brooke.

"She pretended to be a journalist interested in my life, and then she started sending me these creepy IM's, at least I thought it was her and then she came to the front door of my house and said her name was Elizabeth and my middle name was Elizabeth and that she was my mother." Sobbing her heart out, she hung onto Lucas. "I'm all alone and I don't know what to do."

"You have me, I'm here for you," Lucas mumbled into her hair.

"Could you come stay with me tonight? Please, just as friends, I just don't want to be alone," Peyton asked him, pulling back, she looked him in the eye.

"Sure, I got nowhere else to be and I'm here for you," Luke pushed an errant curl out of her face. Putting his arm around her, he stared out at the twinkling stars as they appeared in the darkening approach of night.

* * *

Haley dragged her duffel bag up the stairs of Lucas's house, all the lights were out. Her eyes were caked with tears and her mascara had run, she could taste the streaks on her cheek when her tongue darted out to catch the falling tears. Tracing the curve of her cheekbone, she got out her compact mirror, she looked like a street rat. 

She should've listened to Chris, when he said that going back would make no difference. Nathan had gotten over her and she should get over him. Their brief passion had been like a shooting star in the night, shining but brief.

Collapsing on the stairs of what had once been like her second childhood home, she sobbed her heart out and for once in her life, there was no one around to comfort her or care about what happened to her.

Joe, her and Chris's manager had told her to come back within three days if she didn't want to be replaced.

"May as well go back, no one wants me here." Lifting her duffel bag on her shoulder, she called for a taxi to take her back to the airport.

* * *

"I'm glad you told her to leave, she has no place with us, she broke your heart and it's your turn to give her a dose of her own medicine." Deb smiled, opening her arms, she hugged her son close. 

"Yeah, you're right mom," Nathan smiled and inhaled her sweet domestic scent.

* * *

Scott Motors had been engulfed in flames by now and the fire department was attempting to get control of the fire. Several people stood outside the yellow police tape lines. Hours later when the fire had been put out, one body would be found inside, burned beyond recognition, dental records would have to be used to identify the victim. 

The fire was the top breaking story on the 11 o'clock news, which was watched by most people in Tree Hill.

Peyton and Lucas watched from the comfort of her room. Lucas felt nothing, only a small sense of loss and sorrow that someone had suffered even if that person had deserved to die. Peyton hugged him, hoping to comfort him.

Deb and Nathan watched from the sidelines of the scene, they'd been called before it had been broadcast on the news. The police were eyeing both wife and son as possible suspects.

Karen got a call from Whitey about it, she was in New Zealand and had gone to Andy's house, but no sign of Andy anywhere.

Brooke watched from her princess blue and white bedroom. Her new house was twice as big as her old one. Her parents were once again off at some party, she was once again alone. She wished to be back in Tree Hill, so she could comfort Lucas.

Jake watched the news, sitting on a barstool in some no name bar in some hick town, hoping to hear some news of Nicki, if she'd passed through with his daughter.

Whitey opened a bottle of brandy, poured himself a cup and toasted the silent air. "Play with fire and you get burned."

And so I leave you, speculating on who it could be. If you want an update, review, if not, I'm leaving this as a one-parter. Let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

Peyton sat on the edge of the bed and watched Luke as he slept. Curled in the fetal position, his back to the wall, his soft face unmarred by lines of confusion, anger or retribution.

Silky blond hair that creased her pillow. She stared at him, one thought on her mind. _Fate must be laughing at me right now. I finally find someone to love, who loves me in return and he has to leave to rescue someone else he loves. My mother of all ghosts shows up on my doorstep. And now, I have Lucas in my bed right where I wanted him a year ago. Things happen and time has a distorted way of sending you what you want._

The dark night hung over Tree Hill, through the town, lights were off and more were on, because of the catastrophic fire that had occurred. People were wondering what had caused it? Was it arson? Was it motivated by someone's need to expunge Dan, because he had destroyed so many lives. People wondered, they paced and speculated.

* * *

Deb and Nathan were down at the police station, being questioned in separate rooms about their whereabouts that night. It was 3am and they'd been there for the last 5 hours. Having been called to the scene of the fire by the police at about 9:30 and then being escorted to the police station. 

In a dank gray room, Nathan was being grilled by 3 policemen, he was starting to sweat, but his story stayed the same, detail for detail.

"One last time, then I'm done," Nathan sighed, raking his hands through his hair. "I was picking stuff up at my apartment, since I was moving home and I made a few trips back and forth, my soon to be ex-wife showed up at my house between 7:45 and 8 to talk to me, I told her we were done and that I didn't want anything to do with her. She left shortly after that, she never came inside, my mom was home the entire time while this happened."

"Okay son, we'll be back shortly," Lieutenant Trudeau told him, nodding to the other two officers, they exited the room.

"What'd you guys think?" they watched him from the observation room.

Meanwhile, Deb was being grilled along similar lines down the hall, "I've repeated this story to you three times."

"I was at the café till 6, then I closed up shop, locked the doors at 6:30, just as I was leaving Whitey, Coach Durham stopped by to see me and gave me some information about High Flyers for Nathan, I talked to him for about 20 minutes, got in my car and drove home. Nathan was there, dropping off more boxes, it was about 7 by now. He left again to go pick up his last load of stuff from his apartment, I sat down to read a book, Nathan got back at about 7:30, he brought his stuff in with him and put his stuff away. The doorbell rung at about 7:50 and it was Haley, his wife, she wanted to talk to him. I went upstairs to give them some privacy, they talked for about 5 to 10 minutes and then she left, she never came inside. Nathan and I watched a movie until about 9, then I was getting worried about Dan, because he hadn't called to say he'd be late, so I called his cell, no answer, so I called the dealership and no answer. I didn't think anything of it, cause sometimes he's delayed or he's gone somewhere and I have no way of talking with him until he phones me back. I received your call at 9:24 and Nathan and I left straight away to go to the dealership."

Linking her fingers together, she sat back and stared at them, not blinking an eyelash. "Thank you again Mrs. Scott, we'll be right back." Lt. Wade and Sgt. Lancaster nodded at her. Joining Lt. Trudeau and the other two detectives, they compared notes about the stories and how they were similar and different.

* * *

Pain has a face and a name, I'm looking it in the face right now, it's taken over my body. What can I do? But accept how it feels? What it does to me? I've lost everything important to me. Nothing matters anymore.

****

There's no one in town I know  
You gave us some place to go.  
I never said thank you for that.  
I thought I might get one more chance.  
What would you think of me now,  
so lucky, so strong, so proud?

Haley remembered the lyrics of the song that she heard on her discman while on the plane here to see Nathan. They struck her as somehow right and she'd hoped that Nathan would take her in. Fitting her mood, she slugged her bag over her shoulder and stared out the window at the coming dawn.

Pale fingers of light crawled over the mountains, her life was over, she no longer had a home in Tree Hill.

* * *

lyrics from "may angels lead you in"

short i know, more soon, thanks for the reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews, more soon.

* * *

Chapter Three

Brooke stared at her clock, the red digits flipped over to 3:23. The moon hung low over the hills of Los Angeles. Wrinkling the sheet worriedly between her fingers, she looked at the phone on her beside table. She'd called Lucas's cellphone three times and left messages on his voicemail. Her mind raced with the possibilities of what could've happened.

Her parents were still out at a work party. Her phone rang, she picked it up, "Lucas?"

"No, it's Peyton, Brooke's what going on, it's 3:30 there, shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I can't sleep, I miss Lucas, how is he?" confusion echoed stiffly on the line between the two girls.

"He's sleeping right now, I saw that you'd phoned his cell three times during the night, is something wrong?" Peyton looked down, lightly stroking his hair.

"Are you at his house?" Brooke asked.

"No, we're at my house," Peyton absently remarked.

"What's he doing there?" Brooke asked, fingers picking through her hair, her tone changed from concern to jealousy.

"He just lost his father and I lost my boyfriend, we're just comforting each other. We're just friends, Brooke. You know that." Peyton exclaimed.

Dead air drifted on the line for a minute, while Brooke processed what she'd just heard.

"What happened between you and Jake? I thought you were like happily ever after now." Brooke asked.

"He had to leave to find Jenny, Nikki stole her and left town with her." Peyton struggled not to break down in tears. She felt so torn up inside.

"Ok sorry about the paranoia about Lucas, you know how I am," Brooke told her.

"Well I gotta go, someone's ringing the doorbell at this ungodly hour, so I'll tell Lucas you called." Peyton disconnected the call.

Running down the stairs, Peyton opened the door, Haley stood there, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, her hair a matted mess and her face streaked with tears and caked on mascara.

"Haley's what wrong?" Peyton asked, one hand on her hip, the other on the doorknob.

"I came back to see Nathan and…" she broke off in tears.

"Come in," Peyton helped her in, grabbing the duffel bag and dumping it on the floor. "What happened?"

"Nathan told me to go away that our marriage was over." Falling to the floor, she rocked back and forth, hands wrapped around her knees, mumbling incoherently to herself.

The bathroom upstairs flushed, Haley looked up, her cheeks flushed red, "Why didn't you tell me, you were busy." Standing up, she attempted to wipe her face, "Go back upstairs and be with Jake, I'm sorry for intruding." Haley turned to leave.

"Haley?" a soft masculine whisper stopped her.

Haley turned in surprise at Luke's voice, her jaw dropped when she saw him shirtless. She glanced over at Peyton, her mind adding two and two together and coming up with five. "Oh my god, you guys are together, but I thought that you wanted Brooke at least in New York you said you did and…" Haley trailed off.

Lucas glared at her from the top of the stairs and Peyton looked at Lucas with a weird look in her eyes.

"Why are you here Hales?" Luke asked, moving down the stairs like a sleek predator.

"I came to see Nathan and he told me that it was over and to go away." Haley sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Hey maybe you could talk to Nathan for me?" a hopeful gleam shone in her eyes.

"Sorry Hales, but Nathan likes me about as much as he likes you, we're back to being enemies again," patting her on the shoulder, he glanced at Peyton. "Whatcha ya cooking me for breakfast woman?" arching his eyebrows at her lasciviously.

"Do I look like a domestic housewife to you?" Peyton razzed him, smacking him lightly on the back, she pushed him to the kitchen, "Why don't you make me some breakfast?"

"Whatever," Luke tossed over his shoulder, disappearing into the kitchen.

"I should go, I'm in the way," Haley said quietly.

"Oh no you should stay, you're tired and you don't look so hot, so why don't you go upstairs to the last room on the right and fix yourself up," Peyton offered.

"Ok thanks," Haley trudged up the stairs with her bag and disappeared.

Peyton moved into the kitchen and caught Lucas looking in the fridge for food. "So whatcha ya making me?"

"Well how about deviled eggs and burnt toast?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Sure, or I could make my famous French toast?" Peyton suggested.

"Sounds good and since you are the girl, you should do the cooking and leave the manly things to the men, how about I take out the trash?" Luke winked at her suggestively.

"Really, you're so kind sir?" Peyton drawled in a fake southern accent.

"My pleasure, ma'am." Luke mock bowed and saluted her.

The phone rang then, "I'll get it," Luke beat Peyton to the phone.

"Hello, Sawyer Service Station, how may I direct your call?" Lucas said in a girlish tone.

"Lucas is that you?" Karen asked.

"Oh hey mom, how are you?" Lucas mouthed "mom" to Peyton and walked out of the kitchen to talk to her.

Peyton was left standing at the sink, staring out the window at the sunny day.

"Hey Peyton, is it okay if I just hit the sack for a few hours, I'm dead tired from last night and I think I'd sleep better now, knowing that I'm not alone," Haley said.

"Sure, go ahead, if I'm not here when you wake up, call my cell," Peyton said.

"Thanks." Haley walked up the stairs and went back to sleep.

Luke walked back into the kitchen a few minutes later. "Well my mom arrived safe and sound in New Zealand, she's heading to Andy's place now and said she'd call back in a couple days."

"Back to breakfast," Peyton said.

"Let's go to the café," Luke yawned and stretched his arms over his head.

"Sure, you should grab a shirt though," Peyton laughed at him.

"No problem." Luke turned and bounded up the stairs.

Peyton followed him up to her room, grabbed her purse and told him that Haley was sleeping her tiredness off.

"Let's go," Luke stuck out his hand and Peyton took it. Smiling at each other, they left for the café.

* * *

Brooke heard the soft hum of the limo as it dropped her parents off, her clock now read 4:34, she'd hadn't been able to go back to sleep after talking to Peyton. Getting out of bed, she walked down the hall to her parent's room.

Pushing open the door, she walked into the room. Her mother was in the process of removing her jewelry and her father was loosening his tie.

"Brooke, what are you doing?" her father asked.

"I need to back to Tree Hill now," she stated.

"Why?" her mother asked, placing her silver necklace in its black velvet case.

"Because Lucas needs me," she said.

"How does he need you?" her mom asked, exchanging expectant looks with her husband.

"His father was murdered and he's all alone, he needs me," Brooke stomped her foot on the plush rug.

"Well I'm sorry, but you're here now and here is where you're staying," her mother said.

"Why can't I go?" Brooke whined.

"Because this summer is about us bonding together as a family and we can't do that if you're not here," her dad replied.

"Why do we have to bond now, you two had no problem ignoring me for the last 6 years, throwing money at me and being out of my life and never seeing me, why now?"

"Because it's time we knew our daughter," he dad plainly said.

"That's not fair, how can you move me away from my home, my friends, everything I've known for the last 17 years of my life and expect me to adjust," Brooke screamed at them.

"Would it be so hard for you to think of someone else besides yourself for once?" her mother complained.

"You never cared for me, why should I even stay to listen to you now," Brooke yelled, hands on her hips.

"Because you're still legally under 18 and until you turn 18, you're not allowed to live on your own," her father said quietly.

"Why can't I go back to Tree Hill, I want to, I miss it there, please?" Brooke begged, tears shining in her eyes.

Her father softened slightly, "Well maybe for a few days," was cut off by his wife. "No, you're here to be us now."

"Daddy?" Brooke pleaded.

"Sorry honey, what your mother says sticks."

"No," Brooke cried out.

"I'll make you a deal, you can go back to Tree Hill for your senior year," Brooke's eyes lit up, "on one condition, you have to stay in L.A. for the entire summer, if your father or I find out that you skipped town at all, then the deal is broken and you're stuck here till you turn 18 in April," her mother said strictly.

"Deal," Brooke wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"Thanks you guys are the best," Running over to hug her parents, she shrieked with happiness.

* * *

Lucas left Peyton in the café and walked outside to phone Brooke on his cellphone, seeing that she'd phoned three times last night and having listened to her messages, hearing how frantic she was, he dialed her LA number.

"Davis Residence?" a thick Spanish accent greeted him.

"Is Brooke Davis there?" Luke asked, hopping from one foot to another.

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Lucas Scott," he replied.

"One moment," her hand covered the phone, he could hear muffled voices, then silence.

"I'm sorry, she's out of town on her parent's yacht and won't be back till June 24th," the voice told him.

"But it's only June 9th, could you give me another number to contact her at?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, please try again after the 24th," the line went dead.

"That was weird," he mumbled to himself.

"Talking to yourself is a sure sign of insanity," a sexy voice commented from behind him.

Turning Luke saw Peyton striding towards him, "Hey, didn't you say you talked to Brooke today?"

"Yeah, why?" Peyton shaded her eyes under the powerful glare of the sun.

"Because I just called her house and a maid or someone said that she was out of town on her parent's yacht till the 24th of June?" confusion crossed his face.

"She didn't say anything about a cruise, I'll email her when I get home?" Peyton said, shrugging her shoulders.

Luke opened the passenger door of Peyton's car and got in, putting his sunglasses on, he glanced at his cellphone, "It's only 10:30, let's go do something."

* * *

"Like what?" Peyton squinted at him.

"I don't know, let's go buy you some sunglasses," Luke suggested.

"Okay," Peyton fired her engine and drove away from the café.

Brooke swept back into her house at about 4:00 pm with a huge load of shopping bags. Seeing the new maid her parents had hired to do housework and whatever.

"Paloma, any calls for me?" she asked, holding her breath, hoping Lucas had called.

"No sorry Brooke, hey do you know where the solarium is? Your mom told me to clean it and I can't seem to find it."

"Yeah, I think you go to the kitchen, go up the back stairs, take a right, go to the end of the hallway, there's a set of stairs behind the last door on the left, go up them halfway then there's another hallway to your left, follow that and turn right and I think it's the second door on the right."

"Thanks, do you need help with your bags?" Paloma asked.

"No, do you know where my parents are?" Brooke asked.

"They're at the Agoura Hills Country Club and said you're supposed to join them for dinner at 7," Paloma said.

"Oh really," Brooke wondered about that as she carried her shopping up to her room.

Sorting through her purchases, she found a sexy slither of a dress in a baby blue and dark violent purple that would look gorgeous on her. Laying it out on her bed, she put the rest of her stuff away.

* * *

Next chapter will feature different characters. Each chapter will focus on a different set of people and their problems. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the reviews, more soon.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Haley work up, sweat sticking to her skin. She looked around at the unfamiliar walls. Feeling weak and alone, she got out of bed, padded barefoot to the door. Glancing over shoulder at the time, 1:18 glared at her in red digits.

Slowly opening her door, she walked out to a dark hallway, seeing a glow of light radiating from downstairs. She walked past an open door to Peyton's room and saw a silent figure lying on the bed, oblivious to the world. From the short spiky hair, she could deduce that it was Lucas.

Quietly, she crept down the stairs, hearing Peyton's husky tones murmuring to someone, she crept closer to the sounds and heard Nathan's rough voice.

"Peyton, I don't know what to do, Haley comes back, saying she wants to save our marriage and then my dad is murdered and my mom and I top the suspect list. My life is falling apart and I don't what to do," Nathan buried his head in his hands.

Haley heard a creak on the floorboards above her, coming from the second floor. Turning she tried to scurry down the stairs and get out of sight, but her foot caught on a loose piece of carpeting and she tripped. Her slender body hit the sharp edge of the stair, her hand banged on the railing and then she crashed onto the floor. She fell into a motionless heap at the bottom of the stairs.

Lucas ran down the stairs, "Haley, are you okay?" Running to her, he pushed back her hair and saw an ugly bump forming on her forehead.

Peyton and Nathan ran over to where Lucas was checking Haley to see if she was okay. Peyton leaned down to feel Haley's pulse and to check for broken bones. "Nathan, call 911."

"No." Nathan stood there, arms crossed against his chest, menace evident in his stature, malice in his eyes. "She deserves to die." Turning, he walked away.

Peyton and Lucas looked at each other. A foggy cloud misted everything hazy.

Haley sat up in bed, her hands moving to check her head. No bumps, her mind replayed what happened in her dream. Nathan saying she deserved to die.

Quickly and quietly, she got out of bed, padding down the hallway, she looked in Peyton's room and saw Peyton curled up in bed, Lucas spooning her from behind, both were asleep.

Sighing in relief, that it had only been a dream, she went back to her room and to sleep.

* * *

A blare of music awoke Haley, looking over at the bedside table, it read 6:26 to her. Pulling her pillow over her head, she tried to tune it out. Then her mind clicked and she realized that it was her cell phone.

Grabbing it out of her purse, she flipped it open.

"Haley, it's Joe, where are you?"

"I'm in Tree Hill, look I'm gonna need an extension on my leave…" dead air.

"Why?"

"Because my father in law was murdered."

"Okay, be back by June 21, no later or you're replaced." He disconnected the call.

"Thanks a lot," Haley said to herself. Turning her ringer off, she flopped over to go back to sleep.

* * *

The phone rang in the Sawyer residence at 8:45 a.m.

"Hello?" Peyton said.

"Hey Peyton, is Lucas there?" Karen asked.

"Yeah one sec, Ms. Roe," Peyton cradled the phone, covering the ear piece.

"Your mom," handing it to Lucas.

"Again?" Lucas rolled his eyes and took the phone. Lucas said hi, that Haley was there and he hadn't been contacted for questioning yet by the police. In return, Karen told him how beautiful New Zealand was and didn't mention that there still was no sign of Andy.

Hanging up from talking to her son, Karen looked around her lavish surroundings, she'd gone to where Andy had given her directions to. The staff had been expecting her but didn't know where Andy was. And as for Andy's mom, she was out of town for a couple weeks, or so the butler told her.

Shrugging her shoulders, she walked down the beach, wondering where Andy was…

* * *

Nathan peered out of the blinds looking down the street, expecting to see a police cruiser parked outside watching them.

"Nathan stop it," Deb pulled him away from the curtains.

"Well Mom this is creepy, you say we're going to get away from Dad and he magically is murdered, it's just a bit creepy." Nathan fell back against the wall, struggling to keep his composure. It'd only been 36 hours since the murder, but the police were keeping it under tight wraps.

"Nathan, everything will be fine, I promise." Deb hugged him tightly, crossing her fingers.

"Well don't you think it's weird that the police told us not to leave town and basically treated us like the prime suspects." Nathan sat on the couch.

"I know honey, but it's gonna look like we did it at first, because we had the motive to do it. I mean anyone who knows Dan Scott, knows what a bastard he was and the person that killed him had finally had enough. Still I wonder who did it?" Deb's eyes glazed over at the idea.

"Let's make a list of people and motives." Nathan smiled.

"Okay honey." Deb humored her son.

Nathan came back with a pen and paper.

"First you and me, obvious motives, we know why. Your father was an abusive, sadistic son of a bitch and he deserved to die, but we didn't do it." Deb smiled as Nathan wrote.

"Haley." Deb said.

"Why her?" Nathan asked confused.

"Dan pretty much handed her the divorce papers and she signed them and he never really liked her." Deb said as Nathan wrote.

"Peyton Sawyer?"

"No, she knew my dad and that he was an asshole, but they haven't talked to each other in at least a year, so I cross her off the list." Nathan went to put a line through her name, Deb stopped him.

"Just put a question mark next to her name." Deb said.

"Lucas Scott."

"Yeah and I can list 3 reasons off the top of my head." Nathan sneered as he wrote.

"Brooke Davis?" Deb said.

"Nah, but I'll put a question mark next to her name." Nathan replied.

"Whitey, of course, he and Dad hated each other, that's reason enough." Nathan said, watching his mom smell her wine and practically inhale it.

"Karen as well, Dan was a bastard to her too," Deb breathed after taking a deep gulp of her wine.

"Andy too."

"And don't forget Keith or Jules, his fake bride to be," Deb laughed cynically.

"10 people, it's almost like one of the those weekend murder parties, where you have to guess who did it, or people just keep getting killed." Deb said.

"Yeah mom." Nathan looked at her, concern in his eyes.

* * *

"Ok men, we have our suspect list, anyone that associated with Dan Scott in the last 5 years or was related to him. At the top of that list: Deborah Scott, Keith Scott, Nathan Scott, Lucas Scott, Brian Durham, Andy Hargrove, Haley James-Scott, Emily Chambers and Karen Roe," The detective in charge of the case, looked down the table at the 8 other police officers sitting in front of him. "Question these people and report back to me tomorrow morning at 0800 hours."

A collective silence filled the room as the officers gathered the necessary files and left the room.

Lt. Trudeau looked down at his assigned person, Lucas Scott, black sheep of the Scott family. Rejected for 16 years by his father and then accepted and acknowledged, possibly a motive for murder lay in him somewhere.

Lt. Wade looked down at his assigned persons, Karen Roe and Keith Scott.

Both men, ran their hands through their hair, knowing this could end up as a cold case.

* * *

Jake sped down the highway on his motorcycle since he was in Kansas and of course just his luck, he was running from a tornado. He had heard that a black haired girl and a baby had passed through the bar he'd been at a couple days ahead of him. All the bartender had been able to tell him was that the girl mumbled something about heading for California and that's where he was headed. If he could escape the tornado.

* * *

Whitey relaxed in his comfy chair, looking out at the crystal blue waves as they crashed on the beach. He sighed and relaxed, glad that he wasn't back in Tree Hill having to deal with a whole bunch of trouble that had nothing to do with him.

Having been in the wrong place at the wrong time and seeing someone else set fire to poor Danny boy was tragic, but he didn't feel like saving the devil from hell. So he'd walked away from the scene and packed for a summer vacation away from hell.

Toasting the silent sweet air, he tossed back his tropical drink and relaxed in the sun.

* * *


End file.
